


desert stars

by venndaai



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: 1960s, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming Out, F/F, Fluff, Gay Mutant Road Trip, Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-10 08:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1157419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venndaai/pseuds/venndaai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The X-Kids take a road trip. For some reason. (Also, I really love that gay mutant road trip was already a tag.)</p><p>Really just an excuse for a cuddlepile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	desert stars

"Right, children," the Professor says, absently, "we'll see you back at Westchester in a few days."

Darwin groans. "Really, man?" Alex complains, somewhat sleepily. Hank lets out a little laugh. Angel just exchanges a tired look with Raven.

"Wait, hold up," says Sean. "We're just supposed to waltz into an airport? With the CIA looking for us?" He looks around. "Okay, why am I always the one who thinks of these things? I did not sign up for thinking."

"That's obvious," Alex mutters. Darwin punches him in the arm. "Jesus, really? I'm not allowed to make fun of Sean anymore?"

"Take a road trip," Mr. Lehnsherr tells them, smiling his shark's smile. "It can be a bonding experience."

"I hate this school already," says Raven. 

 

* * *

 

"Why am I the driver?" Hank complains. "I'm gonna give the entire highway a heart attack."

Alex grins. He's been doing that more often. Angel's noticed. "Dude, I spent the last four years in jail, I don't have a fucking licence."

"Nobody drives in London," Raven says. "Well some of them do, but it's on the wrong side of the road anyway."

Sean says, "I'm high, guys. You probably don't want me driving." Everyone exchanges a look, and nods their heads. Then they turn to look at Darwin.

Lazily, he extends his middle finger in their direction.

"Come on, man," Hank says plaintively.

"I'm not driving white people in my free time, fuck off," says Darwin, easily, leaning into Alex's side.

Angel sighs. "I'll drive," she says, and gently pushes Hank out of the way so she can clamber into the driver's seat.

Everyone else gets in, at the peripheral edge of her vision. She's surprised to see Sean claim shotgun. He smiles blithely at her. She snorts and starts the engine. She learned to drive carpooling with the other girls at the club, but she's definitely never driven a camper van before. That's okay, she's used to learning on the job. She turns on the radio. It's on the news. She switches it to Ray Charles. Raven starts loudly singing along to "I Can't Stop Loving You," and after a moment Darwin and Hank join in. Angel's heart lifts. Maybe this really will be fun.

Two hours on Route 66 and they hit the desert. Sean's got his head out the window the whole time. If he screams it's whipped away by the wind. Every now and then Angel glances into the mirror and sees Raven and Hank in the back, Raven naked and blue, eyes fixed on the passing scenery. Alex and Darwin are in the middle and oh my god, they are so terrible at being subtle. Angel shifts her eyes back to the road, thinking. Maybe they haven't actually hooked up yet, and once they do they'll cool it with the touching stuff. Or maybe this'll just get worse, until everyone notices. She's not so worried about the Professor, who probably knows everything about them all already (Angel's trying not to think too much about that, honestly). She doesn't know what to think about Mr. Lehnsherr. The other kids, though, they're the real problem.

"Hey," Raven says. "That sign said Barstow in five miles. Can we stop for food? I'm really hungry."

Sean sticks his head back in. "Me too," he adds mournfully.

"How did you even hear that?" Angel wants to know. "Okay fine, we'll stop."

They all file into the one diner in Barstow and everyone orders sodas and fries. The waitress stares for a moment, then laughs. "Wow, those are great costumes!" she exclaims.

Raven smiles acidly at her.

"Not too weird for you?" Hank says in his gravelly rumble.

"Honey," the waitress says, "this is the desert. All the crazies come out here."

Angel laughs.

Darwin eats quickly and then excuses himself. "There was a grocery store on this street," he explains. "I'm gonna pick up some food for later."

"Good idea," Raven says, before turning back to her Coke. Angel tries not to watch her suck on her straw.

 

* * *

  

They drive for another hour into the desert, and then it's getting dark, so Angel pulls off the road and everyone gets out, stretching and moaning. The boys start collecting stuff for a fire, except for Darwin, who gets out the food he got earlier. Which turns out to be canned beans and canned beer. They get the fire going as the sun slips behind the mountains. It's very empty and quiet and cold even in summer. The booze is passed around. Angel spreads out her other jacket on the hard ground and settles down, legs crossed, the fire warming the front of her face. She pretends not to notice Alex and Darwin slip away.

"Didn't you have a lantern?" Raven asks, from somewhere above.

"It's not turning on," Hank says. "Shockingly, these things are actually quite difficult to examine in the dark."

"We should play truth or dare," Sean says.

"Oh hell no," Angel replies. She's getting drowsy. Noises behind her, and then Raven's sitting down on her right. Raven's golden eyes gleam with reflected fire. She's nursing a beer. She's still not wearing anything and Angel wonders why she isn't freezing.

Bracken crackles. Angel looks up. The blurry shapes on the other side of the fire resolve themselves into Alex and Darwin. Darwin looks the closest to nervous Angel's ever seen him. Alex looks like he wants to bolt. They're holding hands.

Oh, Lord, here it comes, Angel thinks. She leans back, her pack a comfortable cushion, supporting the arch of her spine. She turns her head. Raven's eyes are narrowed. The velvet darkness is close, the stars blotted out by the glare of the fire.

"Hey dudes," Sean calls from his patch of darkness.

"Hey," says Darwin. Angel decides he's the spokesman for the two of them, which is immediately proven right when he says, "So uh, I guess we've got something to tell you guys."

Alex doesn't meet anyone's eyes.

"We've been thinking, about the whole mutant and proud thing." Angel thinks he looks at Raven then, but it's hard to tell in the darkness. "We think it's not just about being, y'know, mutants. It's about being honest with each other."

Hank's voice drifts out from the left. "I agree with the sentiment, but I'd be okay if Sean stopped telling me about his dick."

Everyone giggles at that, but it's more of a nervous titter. Angel doesn't need to see Sean to know he's grinning and spreading his hands out in a shrug.

"Alex and I are dating," Darwin says.

There's a sudden silence.

Angel lets it stretch a little before she says. "Darwin, we all knew that."

An abrubt cough from the left gives lie to that. Angel sighs. "Well, I thought we all knew that."

"I didn't know for sure," Raven says, "but I guessed, yeah. And uh. Darwin, you're right, we should be honest. I-" She stops. Angel watches her mouth work silently and wishes she were brave enough to give her an encouraging pat. Raven swallows audibly, then, "I play for both teams."

"Me too," Angel says quickly, before she can think too much about what she's doing.

This time it's Sean who coughs. And then, because he's Sean, he bursts out laughing. There's a shadowy movement that's probably Alex hitting him, because he shuts up.

"Well," Hank comments, "I'm feeling pretty outnumbered now." His voice is higher-pitched than normal.

"Is this gonna be an issue?" Darwin says, and Angel could kiss him, because how is he talking? Her throat is all frozen up, and Alex still hasn't said a word.

Hank switches on the lantern, and everyone winces at the sudden light. He must have fixed it right before the boys came back. Now Angel can see everyone's faces, hollowed and strange. The fire settles down into comfortable crackling heat.

"A year ago?" Hank says. "Yeah, it would've been an issue. But come on, I- I turned into a blue hairy monster and you guys still thought I was awesome. I don't give a flying fuck that you're, uh, homosexuals."

"I don't think Angel and I are homosexuals, technically," Raven says, and yes she's quiet, but there's a bit of a laugh in it, and Angel feels herself smile a little. "We're just like, twice as awesome as the rest of you."

"Sean?" Darwin asks.

They all look at their ginger pothead. He laughs again. "Priest used to say queers were an abomination," he says. "I always thought he was full of shit."

"Pretty sure we're all abominations here," Angel says.

"Hey, we'll party in hell." That's Raven. She shimmers, becomes a deep bood red, black horns curling from her skull. "Alex can decapitate all the statues of Lucifer."

It's not that funny, but they're all laughing, and everything's okay. Someone knocks the lantern over, so Angel gets a brief glimpse of the red sloughing off Raven as she laughs before they're both in darkness again.

For the first time, Alex says something. "Man, it really is freezing out here."

"Good thing I've got fur then," Hank murmurs.

"Yeah, fur is great," Darwin says smugly.

Alex groans. "You don't have to be smug about it, asshole."

"I'm not that cold either," Raven announces. "And I'm not even wearing anything. Pansies."

"Blue skinned freak," Alex mutters back.

Angel stands up. She is actually really cold, and getting closer to the fire sounds really good right now. "C'mere, Alex, we can huddle for warmth."

"Can I join?" Sean asks, and he does sound a bit miserable.

"Only if you share that Vegas weed later."

"Deal," Sean says promptly, and a few seconds later Angel's lying a few feet from the fire, curled up in her blanket, a warm teenage boy on either side. It's probably not that safe to be so close to the flames, but Angel's really, really cold. Maybe she's found a downside to her own mutation. Fun.

The smoke's dissipated, mostly, and Angel can see the stars wavering through the hot air above her. Voices drift around her. "Anyone want more beer?" says a girl's voice- Raven. Sean mutters a negative and shuffles his body closer to Angel's. She doesn't even suspect his motives, not tonight when they're cold and tired and worn out by the world.

"Hey kids," Darwin says, and then there's a warm furry weight on top of her. Nice. Darwin smells strongly of body spray and Angel doesn't even mind. He smells a bit like coffee and smoke too.

A loud sigh, probably Hank's. "If you're all that tired, we should put out the fire and get back into the camper."

"In a minute," Darwin tells him lazily.

Someone's resting a scaled cheek on Angel's knee. She reaches down to pet Raven's hair. They should really talk. Not tonight though.

"Fine," Hank says, and curls up around them like a big furry windbreaker. "Don't blame me if we fall asleep and suffocate, or freeze, or get arrested."

But for the first time in a long time, Angel's warm and safe, and there's really no reason not to go to sleep. Everything can be someone else's problem for once.


End file.
